who laid the rail
adv. phr.— «The way we glibly toss the word, pastern, at you, you’d think we were and old pastern man from who laid the rail.» —“Sports Roundup” by Joe Williams Syracuse Herald-Journal (New York) July 27, 1940. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
The word filibuster has a long and colorful history, going back to the days when pirates roamed the high seas. Today it refers to hijacking a piece of legislation. Plus, the language of yoga teachers: When doing a guided meditation, you may hear...
After our conversation about towns with extremely short names, many listeners wrote to tell us about Why, Arizona. Others pointed out that there are towns called Ely in Iowa, Minnesota, and Nevada. Other super-short appellations include Rye, New...